| Indoor PE | Friday afternoon |
| Outdoor Games | Tuesday afternoon |
| PPA/COSMIC | Monday afternoon |
| Library | Thursday afternoon |
Year 4 – Curriculum Map 2024-25
Jackie Holderness
The children loved Zoom calling Jackie Holderness! They asked some fantastic questions and equally Jackie had some incredible answers. The children learnt lots about her life as an author and gained an insight into how the story ‘The Princess who hid in a Tree’ was written and published. Jackie was so articulate with the children and elaborated her answers brilliantly. She was a very lovely lady and the children were overjoyed to receive a bookmark each in the post from her personally.
Curriculum Update
Reading
In English, we have been reading ‘The Princess who Hid in a Tree’ where we have been predicting what might happen from details stated and implied. We have also been drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions and justifying inferences with evidence.
We are unbelievably excited to get the opportunity to have a Zoom call with the author Jackie Holderness! We have lots of exciting questions to ask and look forward to finding out what it is like to be an author.
Writing
In Writing, we have been reading ‘Beowulf’. We have started looking at using rich and varied vocabulary to create characters and settings aswell as using figurative language, such as similes and alliteration, to build a picture in the reader’s head. The legend of Beowulf also makes interesting cross curricular links to our upcoming unit on the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England.
Maths
Throughout Year 4, we will all be working incredibly hard to learn our times tables in preparation for the Multiplication Tables Check in the Summer term. To support this, we have been visually representing times tables in a variety of ways to include multiple representations, models and images to support learning. If you would like to extend your learning further at home, please feel free to use your Wonde login to access Education City, Times Table Rock Stars or access www.timestables.co.uk/multiplication-tables-check
In addition, we have also been recognising the place value of each digit in a 4-digit number and using this to understanding to add numbers with up to 4 digits using column addition.
Science
In Science, we started our ‘States of Matter’ unit by sorting materials into different states and describing the properties of solids, liquids and gases. We then played the part of particles and organised ourselves into the three states of matter.
Please see our photos for some of the steps in our scientific enquiry – Knowledge, Exploration, Scientific Thinking, Enquiry, Challenge and Application!
If you like a challenge, please help us work out if slime is a solid or a liquid.
Geography
In Geography, we are trying to answer the question ‘Is the Costa Blanca a world away from our local area?’
To launch our topic, Warren had hidden his treasure around Europe and needed our help to locate it. To help Warren find his treasure, we had to use a range of geographical skills, maps and atlases to:
- locate Europe’s environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries and capital cities.
- identify the oceans bordering Europe
- identify features using the four points of a compass
To support our findings, we included symbols and a key to show the different features on a map of Europe.
Art
In Art, we have been learning about the work of Carol Sabo. We have made links to our Geography topic and have enjoyed developing our skills to create a watercolour postcard from Costa Blanca. We started by experimenting with adding black and white to colours to create tints, tones and shade. After that, we practised two watercolour techniques – wet on wet and wet on dry before working towards our final piece.
Computing
During our Computing sessions, we have recapped the features of the Scratch environment before decomposing a working game together as a class. We have started to utilise the PRIMM strategy to promotes Predicting, Running, Investigating and Modifying code before Making something.
Music
In Year 4, we are extremely lucky to have the opportunity to work with the Hampshire Music Service where we have been learning to play African drums. We look forward to inviting family and friends in soon to watch us in action.
Spanish
In Spanish, we have been learning how to say what pets we have, to describe our pets and say what animals we like.
Cosmic
Every Wednesday morning, our children experience our Cosmic curriculum. See our Long-Term plans to find out which topics are being covered each half-term.
Welcome to Year 4 at Warren Park!
We would like to start by thanking you for your kind support. It has been wonderful to welcome all of our children back into school. We have been so very impressed with just how well they have settled back into school life and the positivity with which they have approached their learning so far. As we begin Year 4, we wanted to update you with some key information.
P.E. Days
Please make sure that your child is sent into school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Fridays. This will limit the amount of kit in school and maximise learning time for the children.
On PE days, we kindly ask that you ensure that your child wear their normal Warren Park polo shirt and jumper or cardigan with either shorts or tracksuit bottoms (blue, grey or black preferred if possible). We would ask that children do not wear jeans on PE days and that they avoid wearing a football kit as well. PE lessons will be held outside wherever possible so your child should wear their trainers rather than school shoes.
Please remember that your child will remain in this kit throughout the day.
Earrings should not be worn to school on PE days. If they are newly pierced then you should send your child in with surgical tape covering them. We only allow small stud earrings in school at any time and sleepers or dangly earrings are not permitted for health and safety reasons.
Reading
Your child will bring a reading book home every evening and we would ask that you read with your child as often as possible. We ask the children to read at home a minimum of three times per week and hand their Reading Record in at school every morning.
Your child has been given their new Home Reading Record for the year. These Home Reading Records have been professionally designed and printed and we are sure you’ll agree that they look fantastic. We kindly ask that these Home Reading Records are carefully looked after – along with the reading book that they will accompany. The school has made a huge investment into reading books again this year and we ask you to value the books at home as much as we do in school.
Please be assured that we will be working hard to make sure the children begin on a suitable book band colour, especially to encourage fluency and confidence. These bands will be under regular review so don’t be surprised if they seem to move quite quickly through the colours this term!
Times Tables
The children have also received a Times Tables Record. This is to be used by you and your child to record their Tables practise and it also contains some ideas in it about how you can best support them at home. We would encourage children to practice their Tables a minimum of 3 times per week and to ensure that they bring their record in every day so that we can record and celebrate their progress.
Year 4 Multiplication Check
During the Summer term, the children will sit the Year 4 Multiplication Check. The MTC is an on-screen check consisting of 25 times tables questions. In July, your child will answer 3 practice questions before moving on to the official check and will then have 6 seconds to answer each question. On average, the check should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete. We will be working incredibly hard over the year to engage the children in a huge variety of multiplication challenges and activities and we would be extremely grateful if you could encourage and challenge the children as much as possible at home.
During Year 4, we will send a range of booklets and times tables activities home but will also offer additional challenges on Education City and Times Table Rock Star which are both accessible online through your child’s Wonde login. www.timestables.co.uk/multiplication-tables-check is also a fantastic website to check out.
COSMIC
In Year 4, during the Autumn term, our COSMIC time will be on Monday afternoon.
OPEN DROP IN
We are delighted to open our doors and invite you in on TUESDAY 17th SEPTEMBER @ 2:20pm to join us for our Geography treasure hunt to launch our ‘European Place Study’ topic.
We are here to help!
We have been delighted to see the children settle back into school brilliantly and we are really excited to explore all the interesting aspects of Year 4 life at Warren Park over the coming year. If you have any questions about your child’s progress or any other aspect of their time in Year 4, please do not hesitate to come and see us and we will be more than happy to help with any questions or concerns.
Thank you for your continued support.